Cat Outta Hell!

Hey Everyone!


Just a quick note today. Aircraft Resource Center, one of the preeminent scale modeling sites on the web, ran an article today on my F-14 model featured on the new cover of THE EIGHTH DAY. Head over there if you want to learn more about the model and see some exclusive photos!


http://www.arcair.com/Gal13/12701-12800/gal12785-F-14-ONeal/00.shtm


-Mike, out

Re: Your braaiinnnssss...

Special treat today, boys and girls. The Kindle edition of THE EIGHTH DAY is now live (so if you were waiting for that to get an e-book copy, go download one now), and here’s a backstage peak at how the cover was made:

Also today is a review of a book I’ve been meaning to post for the last 6 months or so, and it’s been out for a long time, so I’m pretty late to the party.

Max Brook’s oral history of the zombie apocalypse is a new American classic. It’s the book equivalent of The Dark Knight, taking a ridiculous concept and making a genuine piece of art out of it. Much as I do love reading off my Kindle or a good old fashioned paperback, for this one I’m going have to recommend the movie-edition audiobook. The book is so well written, and the voice acting so superb, by the end you feel like you have just had something recounted that actually happened, which is crazy considering how different the world is at the end of Brook’s book from ours. The book is read by a full cast with some big names: Martin Scorsese, Mark Hamill, Nathan Fillon, Alan Alda, the list goes on, and the talent shows through. Structured very differently than a traditional novel, we hear the story of the Zombie war from those who lived it at every level, from civilian survivors to Army grunts to world leaders, and at every phase, from Patient Zero to the initial panic to the US Army’s eventual long march to retake the country. I also really like how there’s no magic “thing” that leads to a climax, no magic cure to be found, just a long, bloody, determined military campaign and the retooling of what’s left of America to support the war effort, in a manner very reminiscent of WWII.   

In world building it’s the details that matter, and Brooks nails it here. From the nicknames the soldiers come up with for the swarms of undead, like “Zach” or “G’s”, to the tales of war-profiteering, political incompetence, and celebrity privilege run amok, World War Z creates an immersive atmosphere more believable than even the ripped-from-the-headlines (or more eerily, predicting the headlines in some cases) Clancy-esque thrillers I generally favor.  So if you haven’t done so, go check it out!

P.S. Haven’t seen the movie yet but I hear the only thing the book and the movie have in common is the title, so no movie cliff notes for you!

-Mike, Out.